Our voice

Everyone’s writing style will be different. But there is a certain tone that we’d like to strike on the blogs which translates across different styles of writing. This is summarized with examples below:

Human

Human sounds like when you’re talking to another person. It’s likely to sound less formal than the style you’d normally write in. You might use more contractions – I’ve, they’re, you’d, it’s. You might occasionally start a sentence with ‘And’ or ‘But’. Human also sounds like a real person, with opinions and passion for their subject.

Given this trend, it makes sense that we’re also seeing an increase in the number of researchers from Asia choosing to publish their research open access. According to Joyce Li, our Journal Development Manager based in Beijing, open access is growing in China, and we’re also seeing a lot of interest in partnerships to start new OA journals.That said, there are still a lot of questions around open access and plenty to do if the model is to become as established as it is in the US and Europe.

We are seeing an increase in the number of Asian researchers choosing to publish their research in open access journals. Open access is growing in China, and as publishers, we are receiving considerable interest in developing innovative partnerships to create new journals.However, we believe that more can be done to establish the open access model in Asia in the same way that it has become established in the US and Europe.

Knowledgeable

Knowledgeable sounds like someone who is confident in their understanding and opinions. You might reference your previous experience in the area you’re writing about, or tell stories that explain your background in a topic.

An easy way to tell if you sound knowledgeable – read the blog back, does it sound confident and with clearly expressed views? Does the reader know why they should be listening to you?

Do

Don’t

I’ve been working in the editorial teams of OA journals for almost six years now. The time we take to learn the trade of editorial work is not trivial – and a large focus is on learning and adhering to the highest standards of publication ethics and practice. So, it’s extremely troubling when a subset of OA journals start to have a negative impact on the reputation of OA journals in general.

It’s thought that adhering to the highest standards of publication ethics and practice is important. However, it seems to be that a subset of OA journals that do not adhere to these standards are having a negative impact on open access generally.

Spirited

Spirited sounds like someone who is enthusiastic about their subject and determined to make sure that the reader feels the same. Let your interest in the subject shine through and give it a bit of personality.

An easy way to tell if you sound spirited – read the blog back and ask yourself ‘can I tell that the person who’s written this is interested in the subject and wants me to be excited about it?’ If the answer is no, go back through the blog and think about how you can work some of that in. (Our writing guide can help with this.)

Do

Don’t

Do you feel you’re drowning in the dating scene? Have you suffered a string of failed relationships or flings? Is love a distant dream you are beginning to lose faith in? Well, cheer up, because if you think your life is lacking in romance, you should see how awful the animal kingdom can be. Here we show you how shallow, promiscuous, strange, and utterly dreadful creatures are when it comes to love.

It’s Valentine’s Day today and so we thought we’d take a look at the strange world of romance in the animal kingdom. From Strawberry Dart frogs to Black Widow Spiders we take a look at our research and what it tells us about their love lives.

A quick disclaimer on tone of voice

Of course, different blogs on different subjects will inevitably call for a different balance of the elements in our tone of voice. A blog about Valentine’s Day is the perfect place to play up the ‘spirited’ element, while a blog about a new open access mandate calls for more of the ‘knowledgeable’ element. No matter what, we should always sound human.

Be inclusive, write for the world

So what does this mean? Well, essentially we want people with a knowledge of science to be able to understand all of our blogs, no matter what research field they are in. So for example, a physicist should be able to understand an article on the microbiome, and a biologist should be able to understand a post on medical ethics.

We’re also a global organization with a global audience, so it’s worth remembering that not everyone reading a post will be reading it in their first language or will know about things happening in a certain country.

For example, it’s pretty safe to assume that everyone reading will know what DNA is, but don’t be so sure that they will know the NHS or ISRCTN. With all this in mind, try to:

Keep sentences short and simple

Avoid using technical language and jargon – write the blog in the style of an opinion piece you would find in a high brow newspaper – it doesn’t have to be dumbed-down, just clear.

Avoid using initials and acronyms, and always explain them if you do – unless it’s so commonly used that it’s likely to be understood by a wide range of audiences. And try to avoid using too many as they can make the page look messy.

Avoid being too location-specific – while it’s fine to write about things that are only relevant to one country – especially if you can show how it applies to others – it’s important to remember that not everyone reading the post will be from the same place as you.

Example:

Before: The journal, which has already made a considerable impact here, will be relaunched as an open access journal in January by the new Editor-in-Chief, with the hope of reaching foreign markets.

After: The journal will be relaunched in January by the new Editor-in-Chief. It has already made a considerable impact in the UK, and hopes to reach new countries by becoming open access.

Generally a hyphen is not needed, unless the root word starts with and ‘i’ or a capital. E.g.anti-intelligence, anti-American, antidepressant

article collection

Lowercase

article level metrics

Lowercase

article-processing charge

Not capitalized, has a hyphen

Associate Editor

Capitalized

author, authors

Lowercase

B

backward, backwards

Use ‘backward’ in American English

BA

Abbreviation for Bachelor of Arts

biannual, bimonthly, biweekly

Don’t use these words as they are ambiguous in meaning.

big data

Lowercase

billion

Use numerals with ‘billion’. Don’t hyphenate the numeral and ‘billion’

biodiesel

One word, no hyphen

biology

lowercase unless part of a proper noun

BMC

Not BioMed Central.

birth date

Not birthdate

blog

lowercase

BMC series

‘BMC’ italicized. When used as a noun, no hyphen. E.g. The BMC series goes from strength to strength. When used as an adjective, it does have a hyphen. E.g More BMC-series journals are tracked by ISI than independent ones.

BMC Series blog

Name of a blog

breast cancer

Lowercase, unless part of a proper noun

BugBitten

The name of a blog. Note the second capital ‘B’.

C

cancellation (n.), canceled, canceling (v.)

The preferred US spelling has two ‘l’s in noun form and one ‘l’ in verb form

cancer

Lowercase, unless part of a proper noun

cardiovascular disease

Lowercase, unless part of a proper noun

CC BY

No hyphen. All capitalized.

cell phone

Interchangeable with ‘mobile phone’

centigram

centiliter

Note US spelling

centimeter

Note US spelling

chair, chairperson

Try to use these gender-neutral terms rather than ‘chairman’ or ‘chairwoman’

climate change

Lowercase

citizen science

Lowercase

CO2

Acceptable abbreviation for carbon dioxide

co-

Use a hyphen between this prefix and root word unless the word is one that the dictionary closes up, such as ‘cooperation’, ‘coordinate’

conference, conferences

Lowercase, unless part of a proper noun

crowdsource, crowdsourcing

One word

customizable

Not customizeable

D

data

Treat data as a mass noun like ‘information’, taking a singular verb. E.g. The data is lost.

daylight saving time

Lowercase in all uses. ‘Saving’, not ‘savings’.

dialog, dialogue

Use ‘dialog’ for the term ‘dialog box’. Otherwise use ‘dialogue’.

digital age

digital divide

disabled

OK to use as an adjective when referring to people with disabilities. E.g.Can disabled people access your website? Do NOT use as a noun, as in ‘the disabled’.